3rd Year Punishment Arc
The Third-Year Punishment Arc focuses on the Third-Year Pandora's initial response towards 2nd-Year Satellizer L. Bridget's actions against 3rd-Year Miyabi Kannazuki. Background Previously, Miyabi harassed Satellizer, leaving her with no choice but to defend herself. But in her enraged state, Satellizer takes it too far and severely injures Miyabi. Regardless of the circumstances, the Third-Years won't let it slide and consider Satellizer's actions as insubordination against them. Ingrid Bernstein sets out to punish Satellizer and make an example out of her. The 9th Nova Clash is recounted by Kaho Hiiragi in the middle of the Arc. Terms such as Ereinbar Set, Baptism Ceremony, Volt Texture and Nova Texture are introduced in this Arc. The High End Skills are given further elaboration and the Tempest Turn is shown for the first time in the series. Newly Introduced Characters Limiter *Leo Bernard *Mark Anthony Pandora *Ingrid Bernstein *Attia Simmons Cameo *Marin Maxwell *Albert Summary The Guardian of Order In an abandoned city, Ingrid and Leo are at the roof of a building. Leo sense the arrival of a Type-R Nova. True to his word, the Type-R shows itself. Ingrid orders Leo to set up his Freezing Field for 40 seconds. Leo assures his partner he can hold his Freezing for 2 minutes. Ingrid fights and beats the Type-R within the 40 seconds of Leo's Freezing. Leo congratulates her for her success. It is then revealed that the battle is just a simulation. Ingrid and Leo meet Attia and Mark. Attia tells Ingrid of what Satellizer did to Miyabi. Satellizer is imprisoned. Yumi Kim visits her. The teacher asks Satellizer if she regrets what she did to Miyabi. She warns Satellizer that she won't be forgiven the next time she nearly kills a fellow student. Before Yumi leaves, she threatens to kill Satellizer if she ever got Kazuya Aoi involved in a situation like that again. Satellizer is set free later that night and encounters Ingrid for the first time. Ingrid introduces herself but Satellizer won't accept her handshake. Satellizer can already guess what Ingrid wants and with her Volt Weapon at Ingrid's neck, she says "If you want to say something, then just say it." Ingrid calmly pushes away Satellizer's Volt Weapon. With a fight unavoidable, Ingrid gives Satellizer 24 hours to find a Limiter partner simply because the rules say so. Ingrid calls Satellizer a "partner-less fool" and warns her that Leo is stronger than Miyabi's Limiters. Kaho overhears their conversation and relays it to Kazuya. Kazuya quickly runs to the girls' dormitory. As Satellizer is bathing, she ponders on Ingrid's advise to find a Limiter. She considers Kazuya offer to be her Limiter but she remembers Yumi's threat. Upon asking two Pandoras, Kazuya finds Satellizer's room and enters it because the door wasn't closed. In her room, Kazuya finds an unexpected side to the Untouchable Queen. He sees stuff toys, a knitting in progress and a diary. Kazuya attempts a peek at the diary but Satellizer exits the bathroom, covered only by a towel. Satellizer grabs the diary but it results in her towel falling off. Covering herself with a towel, Satellizer asks why he came. Not for the first time, Kazuya offers to be her Limiter. But Satellizer refuses, saying that she is fine on her own. The Untouchable Queen orders Kazuya to leave. In Ingrid's room, the owner of said room looks out her window and thinks about her friend, Marin. Satellizer appears behind her. The Untouchable Queen has decided to attack Ingrid when her Limiter is not present. A wall and the window explode, waking up a few Pandora. Ingrid pushes Satellizer out of her room and down onto the courtyard. With or without Leo, Ingrid is still strong enough to beat Satellizer. Ingrid taunts Satellizer to show her the power she has heard so much about. Attia has Mark set up a Freezing Field on a portion of the girls' dormitory in order to keep the teachers from noticing. Though Mark's Freezing will last for only 20 minutes, Attia leaves him to it. Attia proceeds to watch Ingrid's fight on the roof and calls for Leo to assist Ingrid. Kazuya makes his way to the area where the battle is at and observes from behind a tree. The fight goes in Ingrid's favour. She lands several hits on Satellizer, breaks her Volt Weapon and crashes her on a part of the roof. Their fight wakes up more Pandora and alerts Kazuya who is sitting beneath a tree. Chiffon, however, keeps sleeping. Satellizer is forced to use Accel Turn but Ingrid easily defends herself and breaks Satellizer's Volt Weapon again. Ingrid praises Satellizer for being able to use Accel Turn but while the basic High End Skills are effective against a Nova, against a more experience Pandora, it is worthless. Ingrid uses Tempest Turn to make four copies of herself and delivers a severe beat down on Satellizer. Satellizer falls to the ground. By breaking the rules, Ingrid has deemed Satellizer's Stigmata as forfeited. She starts to painfully remove Satellizer's Stigmata. She manages to remove one and throws it away. But Leo's arrival distracts Ingrid, allowing Satellizer to escape. Ingrid makes it clear to Satellizer that she can't win and she gives her one last chance to find a Limiter partner. She calls to the first years in their dorm but none of them are willing to help Satellizer. Limiter Partner However, Kazuya, who has been watching this whole time, reveals himself. With Satellizer's removed Stigmata in his hand, he offers to be Satellizer's Limiter. From her room, Kaho sees the events through her windows. She runs down in order to stop Kazuya from possibly getting hurt. Ingrid tests Kazuya's resolve by warning him that he will be beaten to the ground if he becomes Satellizer's Limiter, considering he is technically siding with 'one who has broken the rules'. Although Kazuya doesn't want to break any rules or go against a senior, he makes it clear that he can't stand by and watch Satellizer get beaten. This makes Satellizer wonder why he would go so far for her. Kazuya and Ingrid stare intently at each other until Kaho comes in and kicks Kazuya on the head. Kaho apologizes to Ingrid and proceeds to drag Kazuya away. But Kazuya slaps her hands off and is determined to help Satellizer. Ingrid gives Satellizer the chance to perform Baptism Ceremony with Kazuya. But Satellizer refuses, calling the ceremony as well as the Ereinbar Set perverted and it gives her a dirty feeling. It elicits different responses from the four who hear it. Kaho and Kazuya, both of which have yet to experience the Baptism Ceremony and the Ereinbar Set, are consequently lead to believe that it is as Satellizer made it out to be. But Ingrid explains to them that it is a "holy thing which comes from absolute trust in one another" and that the Ereinbar Set is about sharing the five senses between partners. Having lost her patience, Ingrid and Leo activate their Ereinbar Set. Leo uses his Freezing and immobilizes Satellizer. Ingrid attacks the Untouchable Queen but Kazuya uses his Freezing, neutralizing Leo's Freezing and sending Ingrid backwards. The fact that Kazuya can use Freezing without an Ereinbar Set shocks them. Ingrid decides to attack Kazuya instead but Satellizer steps in and wounds Ingrid. Leo tends to Ingrid while Kazuya sees if Satellizer is hurt. Ingrid asks Kazuya and Satellizer, a Limiter and Pandora, why they are breaking the rules meant to protect everyone. Though Kazuya understands the importance of rules, he doesn't know why Ingrid is so obsess with them. Ingrid orders Kazuya to shut up and attacks him again but Satellizer defends him once more. Kazuya can't help but consider the fight meaningless but Kaho tells him that it is not meaningless at all in the eyes of Ingrid. Kaho recounts to Kazuya the events of the 9th Nova Clash. Marin Maxwell Ingrid once had a best friend whom she really respected named Marin Maxwell. Marin, at the time, held the rank of 7, the rank that Ingrid now holds, in spite of low compatibility rate with her Stigmata. What was supposed to be a training exercise for the 1st Years became the 9th Nova Clash. With Marin and her platoon the only ones available to stop or halt the single Type-S Nova, she leads the 1st Years under her command to fight it. But the 1st Years disregard her orders and flee. Ingrid arrived just in time to see them do so. Marin dies to give the 3rd Year and 4th Year reinforcements time to arrive. The entire events lead Ingrid to conclude that it was the insubordination and the unwillingness of the 1st Years to follow orders that lead to Ingrid's death. It resulted in her obsession to maintain order among the ranks of West Genetics' students. Kazuya begins to understand Ingrid's feelings. Ingrid and Satellizer continued their fight. Leo uses Freezing again but Kazuya uses his Omnidirectional. Not only is Leo's Freezing neutralized, Ingrid is caught in it. Everyone who is watching the fight is baffled by Kazuya's ability. Ingrid orders Leo to neutralize Kazuya's Freezing but Satellizer attacks Leo and subdues him. Left with no choice, Ingrid activates her Pandora Mode in order to move through Kazuya's Freezing for about 3 minutes. As Ingrid continues her assault on Satellizer, she mentally says "Marin, I want you to tell me that I am not wrong". She recounts that if the 1st Years had just followed orders instead of leaving, Marin would still be alive. Ingrid notes that since Genetics is a military academy, there are strict rules which ensure everyone's safety. But some make light of that and would turn their backs on their comrades if it meant surviving. Ingrid screams that she can't lose to Satellizer, a person whom she considers to be the kind of person who tramples over the rules and would abandon comrades. She is about to finish off Satellizer when Kazuya unleashes a stronger Freezing. Kaho runs off to find the teachers. Instead, she encounters Virginia and Tyrol, two Pandoras who were a part of Marin's platoon. She asks for their help and brings them to the battle. Remembering the facts of Volt Texture and Nova Texture and the possible dangers of using Pandora Mode, Ingrid can't help but wonder why Kazuya can still immobilize her even in Pandora Mode. Kazuya pleads for Ingrid to stop and explains that even though it is wrong to go against a senior, it was Miyabi who started it and Satellizer broke no rules because she was simply defending herself. Violence wouldn't solve anything and they only needed to talk. Kazuya asks Ingrid to stop their meaningless fight. Kazuya's words enrage Ingrid just as her Pandora Mode reaches its time limit. She yells that she won't allow anyone else to die like Marin. She angrily asks Kazuya if a Pandora's (Marin's) death is meaningless. Kazuya steps in between Satellizer and Ingrid. Kazuya explains that in a battle situation, it is a commander's duty to make the decisions and Marin could have decided to retreat if she wanted to. But Marin instead chose to fulfil her duties as a Pandora to protect the civilians. She decided to stay and fight. She accepted her death as a Pandora and it was worthy of respect and Marin did not regret her decision. Kazuya accuses Ingrid on overlooking Marin's motives, focused only on her death and continued to blame other people. He states that the one underrating Marin's death was Ingrid herself. Kazuya slaps Ingrid across the face and his words start to sink in. Ingrid collapses just as Kaho arrives with Virginia and Tyrol. Ingrid has a vision of Marin. Marin tells her that she is not wrong and did the best she could. Marin thanks Ingrid for never forgetting her before she walks off. Ingrid wakes up in the hospital and is visited by Virginia and Tyrol. They tell her to take it easy and that it would take 23 days before she could fully recover. Just as the two were about to leave, Ingrid stops them. She asks them if they regret leaving Marin behind. They answer that they do and have never forgotten. But they also tell Ingrid of Marin's last order. "Those who are not resolved retreat". Ingrid arrives just after Marin gave the order. Virginia explains that it wasn't possible for them, the 1st Years who had immature Stigmata, to defeat the Nova. They did their best but they reached their limits. Marin overlooked their retreat because even before Albert died, she already knew she herself wasn't going to last long and wanted to save as many of her underclassmen as she could. Virginia and Tyrol leave. Leo thanks them for visiting. Ingrid is left alone in her hospital room to digest everything that has happened and was said. Attia reports everything that happened to her friends. They conclude to continue observing both Satellizer and Kazuya. Causatum Ingrid may have been beaten but the 3rd Years are not done with Satellizer yet. Under orders from a superior Pandora , Attia schemes for another method to bring down Satellizer. Trivia *Virginia and Tyrol make their official début during the 9th Nova Clash. *Similar to the 9th Nova Clash, Creo and Arnett appear as silhouettes while Elizabeth is shown with her eyes. Differences in the Anime Character Changes *Mark does not appear in this Arc. Subsequently he is not seen using his Freezing. *Arthur Crypton makes appearance in this Arc. He even spectates the battle with Kaho. *Ganessa Roland replaces the roles of Virginia and Tyrol and most of Kaho's. She replaces Kaho in relating the events of the 9th Nova Clash to Kazuya and the roles of Virginia and Tyrol in terms of helping Ingrid learn the truth of what really happened during the 9th Nova Clash. In addition, she is also well-acquainted with Marin Maxwell. She was not present at all in the manga. *Virginia and Tyrol do not appear at all. Subsequently, their important moment and conversation with Ingrid in the Recovery Room did not happen. Plot Changes *Yu-Mi does not threaten Satellizer to stay away from Kazuya. *Most of the students are awake and hear of Satellizer and Ingrid's battle. *Kaho is wearing her uniform instead of a nightgown. *Kaho does not kick Kazuya and try to drag him away. She also does not go to find the teachers in order to stop the fight. *Kazuya does not slap Ingrid. *With Kazuya's reasoning and Ganessa's recount of the 9th Nova Clash, Ingrid ultimately realizes the truth of the Clash from her own memories of Marin's last moments. See Also Category:Freezing Manga story arcs